WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Mount Greylock School Committee on Wednesday approved the guaranteed maximum price for the district's addition/renovation project.

 

As recommended by the School Building Committee at its July 13 meeting, the GMP is $52.3 million — a little less than the construction line item carried in the overall project budget.

 

"We've gotten to the point where [construction manager] Turner Construction was comfortable," SBC Chairman Mark Schiek told a special meeting of the School Committee. "They've bid everything. This includes all bid prices. It's no longer estimates.

 

"They feel comfortable guaranteeing the project will come in at this price on the high end. … This guarantees the maximum price based on the scope laid out in the contract."

 

That scope could still change.

 

The School Building Committee, which has more than $2 million in uncommitted contingency funds, still is weighing whether to add two elements left out of the project during the pre-construction phase: a new parking lot and an outdoor performance and learning space — formerly referred to as an amphitheater — at the rear.

 

"We have three [possible] incarnations that are simpler," Principal Mary MacDonald told the School Building Committee at a subsequent meeting of that panel on Thursday evening. "We're now looking at something more similar to the outdoor learning space to the north of the academic wing.

 

"It's not accurate to call it an amphitheater."

 

The potential outdoor performance space would take advantage of the topography on the west side of the building. The smaller outdoor learning space MacDonald referred to on the north side of the three-story academic wing is in the scope of the project currently under way.

 

On Wednesday, Turner's Mike Giso told the SBC that the project is on schedule.

 

"We're working through the challenges, but we're making progress," Giso said.

 

The three-story academic wing and new "central core," which includes the offices, media center (library), cafeteria and kitchen, are scheduled to be delivered to the district for use in April 2018. Demolition on the existing academic wing is set to begin right after classrooms are moved to the three-story wing over April vacation.

 

The two main pieces of the current school that are remaining, the gymnasium and auditorium, are undergoing renovation. Giso said the new roof is in place on the gym, and the new wood floor is set to go down right after Labor Day. The interior masonry work in the auditorium is scheduled to begin later this month.

 

Earlier in the evening, at the two-item School Committee meeting, the panel unanimously appointed Yocelyn Delgado to fill a vacant seat on the School Building Committee.

 

The Massachusetts School Building Authority requires at least one member of the School Building Committee be state certified as a "Public Purchasing Official." The committee lost its MCPPO-certified member when Nancy Rauscher resigned as the district's business manager.

 

Delgado is an employee of The Management Solution, which the Tri-District (Mount Greylock, Lanesborough Elementary and Williamstown Elementary) hired to supply business management services earlier this summer.